Issue link: https://let.epubxp.com/i/254119
8 Law Enforcement Technology February 2014 www.officer.com PUBLIC SAFETY Serving needs "We have a different customer service orientation," says Phillips. "Not only do we handle law enforcement, 911 and emergency services, most non-traditional centers take pleasure in handling public works. We're the only ones here 24/7, 365. This is true for most hospitals and airports, too. The PSAP is the only place that answers the phone all the time. A home owner doesn't call 911 to say a pipe broke in my house. However, if the pipe breaks at the main library they are calling us." The Port of Seattle faces the same issues. "We don't take a ton of traffic accidents," McCaughan explains. "We don't tone out for house fires. A lot of the things we do are rather research intensive. We have a lot of coordination to do with TSA, Homeland Security and airport operations. Traditionals might be fairly straightforward; ours is a lot of coordina- tion with other entities." Wooten expands on this stating that non-traditionals are unique because they are specialty focused. "They are often doing things that traditional centers don't do as a whole," he says. "They are watch- ing hundreds of cameras, monitoring spe- cialized alarms on doors and fuel tanks. They do a ton of different things. It's like a little city, but it's more condensed in what it is they have to manage." Low-frequency, high-consequence events "The other big thing that non-traditionals do is we have critical incidents on a daily basis," explains Phillips. "Major sporting events and major speakers. Some of our major events would be overwhelming to the smaller PSAPS," she states, cit- ing KU's 2008 basketball championship where 40,000 fans poured into the streets after their win. Wooten agrees that non-traditionals are very good at dealing with and manag- ing large scale events. "Everything from a university ramping up for a weekly football or basketball game that brings thousands of people into their area, or an airport prepping for a presidential visit," he explains. "They are very adept University of Kansas (KU) prides itself on being a non-traditional PSAP with a different customer base and customer service approach. At the same time, KU encourages traditionals and non-traditionals to form close relationships. Photos courtesy of University of Kansas Police Department LET_06-10SeaAirportCities0214.indd 8 1/24/14 12:36 PM